1. DESIGNING AND DELIVERING AN
INFORMATION LITERACY PROGRAMME TO
SECOND LEVEL STUDENTS:
AN NUI MAYNOOTH EXPERIENCE
ELAINE BEAN
LEARNING, TEACHING AND RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT
THE LIBRARY
NUI MAYNOOTH
2. BACKGROUND
• First year students at third level education face
significant challenges in adapting to a new
information environment
• Designed an information literacy programme a
number of years ago to be used in our local
school
• Aimed at 2nd
year and 5th
year
• 1 double class
3. IN THE PAST …
• Delivered by two members of
staff
• Content needed more than
one session, however,
teachers were not in a
position to give up class time
4. TO DESIGN A NEW PROGRAMME
• What were others doing?
• What time of year suits us best?
• What school should we approach?
• What contact has NUI Maynooth already made
with schools – could we tie in with that?
5. WHAT ARE OTHERS DOING?
• Universities are getting involved with schools
• Discussed at recent conference – schools coming into
the Library
• One Library gave all participants a reader ticket to their
library
6. HOW WE DID IT?
• Fortunate to have a person on work experience during the
summer
• Looked at what others were doing
• Designed a working outline including content for each
session and a proposal to present to a school
• Our programme was designed to go out to the school to
deliver the programme
• Designed and delivered by two members of staff
• One was a Senior Library Assistant who co-ordinates the library training team and has
been delivering training sessions for over ten years. The other a qualified librarian and
second level teacher who has been delivering training sessions both as a Subject
Librarian and as a member of the library training team
7. OUR PROPOSAL
The proposed NUI Maynooth transition year Information Literacy programme
is intended to be delivered to transition year students by
NUI Maynooth library staff in a classroom setting over a five
week time period possibly commencing in October 2012. Closely aligned
with the objectives of NUI Maynooth library’s strategic goals “to contribute
to social, economic and cultural development at local, regional, national
and international level by providing an inclusive library and information
service” and “to further develop the library’s role in learning and teaching
to support a quality teaching environment and learning experience”, the
programme aims to expose transition year students
to the skills and techniques of information literacy
to support them in their future transition to
university or the world of work. As such the programme
goals include preparing transition year students for experiences with
information use beyond the classroom, towards continuing education, self-
development and lifelong learning.
8. MOVING FORWARD
• Met with Assistant Registrar of NUI Maynooth to
discuss – really valuable meeting
• Tips
• Gave details of schools in the surrounding area
• Alerted us to think about where there was more than
one school in the area – how/should you select one?
• Approaching a school
• Look to meet with the Principal
9. AGREED ON A SCHOOL
WHAT’S NEXT?
• Meet the principal and deputy principals
• Discuss the proposal
• Why we felt in a position to offer it
• Explained about LIST (our Library & Information Skills Programme),
the feedback, the numbers
• Background on the two people delivering the
session
10. PRIOR TO MEETING THE SCHOOL
• Well prepared –
knew what we
needed to ensure we
delivered a beneficial
programme
• Know what was
happening elsewhere
• Detailed lesson plans
11. OVERVIEW OF PROGRAMME
• Session One: Preparing for your Assignment
• Session Two: Accessing Resources & Social
Media
• Session Three: Evaluation of Resources
• Session Four: Using Information
• Session Five: Visit NUI Maynooth Library
12. WHAT WORKED WHEN DELIVERING THE
SESSIONS?
• Lots of involvement
• Group and individual work
• Brave move?
• Didn’t know the class
• Didn’t know if they would engage
• Really surprised at their participation
14. EXPLAINING TOPICS
• Boolean Logic – stand up if you have brown hair, stay
up if you have brown hair and blue eyes, stay standing if
you have brown hair, blue eyes and not wearing a watch
• They could visually see searches change as the search options
changed
• Avoiding Plagiarism – find current topics or music they
can relate to, have to look it up themselves and tell you
why – discuss in class
• Trusting what they find – White house website, look it
up for themselves – CRAP checklist, Currency,
Reliability, Accuracy, Purpose
16. THE UNEXPECTED
• Three classes of transition years
• Had to deliver to all (each session required 3 double classes
delivered 3 times)
• Changed content between classes
• Amend content of following sessions the more familiar we
became with the students
17. THE UNEXPECTED
• Each class was different – keeping to timing was
challenging
• Teachers asked if they could come and sit in
on classes – found the content excellent and
would help with class projects
18. THE FEEDBACK
Very positive feedback from teachers and students – as the programme
progressed, teachers asked to sit in on sessions and said they would use
relevant components in their project work
Tour of NUI Maynooth Library and campus very positively received
Highlighted the University’s role in civic engagement and our role in
recruiting students and student retention.
Quotes from participants: Very informative and gave me great tips to help
with school work. I thought I knew everything about the internet, but I don't
so everything was new, thanks. I learned new ways of researching today
which I will use in the future. Can't wait to go to the Library
Quote from teacher:The course provided very good active learning
techniques that students could take away and apply directly to their own
learning.
Karen Maye
19. VISIT TO THE LIBRARY
• Very excited
• Opportunity to
put some of the
props in context
• For some they
had never been
inside a library
20. Please feel free to contact me should you require further information.
Thank you!
